Bill Text: FL S0642 | 2013 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Alcoholic Beverages

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-25 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/HB 347 (Ch. 2013-157) [S0642 Detail]

Download: Florida-2013-S0642-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2013                              CS for SB 642
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Regulated Industries; and Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       580-03456-13                                           2013642c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to distilled spirits; amending s.
    3         565.03, F.S.; providing definitions; revising
    4         provisions regarding a state license tax involved with
    5         the operation of distilleries; providing requirements
    6         for craft distilleries under certain conditions;
    7         prohibiting the shipment of certain distilled spirits;
    8         restricting license transferability and ownership
    9         affiliation; providing reporting requirements;
   10         providing requirements relating to the payment of
   11         taxes; providing for the adoption of rules; amending
   12         s. 561.14, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference;
   13         declaring that the provisions of this act are not
   14         severable; providing an effective date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 565.03, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   19  read:
   20         565.03 License fees; manufacturers, distributors, brokers,
   21  sales agents, and importers of alcoholic beverages; vendor
   22  licenses and fees; craft distilleries.—
   23         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   24         (a) “Craft distillery” means a licensed distillery that
   25  produces 75,000 or fewer gallons per calendar year of distilled
   26  spirits on its premises and that has notified the division in
   27  writing of its status as a craft distillery.
   28         (b) “Distillery” means a manufacturer of distilled spirits.
   29         (2)(1)(a) A distillery Each liquor manufacturer authorized
   30  to do business under the Beverage Law to distill, rectify, or
   31  blend spirituous liquors shall pay an annual state license tax
   32  of $4,000 for each plant or branch operating he or she operates
   33  in the state, as follows:
   34         1. If engaged in the business of distilling spirituous
   35  liquors and nothing else, a state license tax of $4,000.
   36         2. If engaged in the business of rectifying and blending
   37  spirituous liquors and nothing else, a state license tax of
   38  $4,000.
   39         (b) Persons licensed hereunder in the business of
   40  distilling spirituous liquors may also engage in the business of
   41  rectifying and blending spirituous liquors without the payment
   42  of an additional license tax.
   43         (3) A craft distillery licensed under this section may sell
   44  to consumers, at its souvenir gift shop, spirits distilled on
   45  its premises in this state in factory-sealed containers that are
   46  filled at the distillery for off-premises consumption. Such
   47  sales are authorized only on private property contiguous to the
   48  licensed distillery premises in this state and included on the
   49  sketch or diagram defining the licensed premises which has been
   50  submitted with the distillery’s license application. All sketch
   51  or diagram revisions by the distillery require the division’s
   52  approval. Before approval, the division shall verify that the
   53  souvenir gift shop operated by the licensed distillery is owned
   54  or leased by the distillery and is on property contiguous to the
   55  distillery’s production building in this state.
   56         (a) A craft distillery or licensed distillery may not sell
   57  any factory-sealed individual containers of spirits except in a
   58  face-to-face sales transaction on the distillery’s premises in
   59  this state with a consumer who purchases no more than two
   60  individual containers that comply with container limits in s.
   61  565.10, for the consumer’s personal use and not for resale.
   62         (b) A craft distillery may not ship, arrange to ship, or
   63  deliver any of its distilled spirits to consumers within this
   64  state except in a face-to-face transaction on the distillery’s
   65  premises. However, a craft distillery may ship, arrange to ship,
   66  or deliver such spirits to manufacturers of distilled spirits,
   67  wholesale distributors of distilled spirits, state or federal
   68  bonded warehouses, and exporters.
   69         (c) Except as provided in paragraph (d), it is unlawful to
   70  transfer a distillery license for a distillery that produces
   71  75,000 gallons or fewer per calendar year of distilled spirits
   72  on its premises, or to transfer an ownership interest in such
   73  license, to an individual or entity that has any direct or
   74  indirect ownership interest in a distillery licensed by this
   75  state, another state, a territory, the United States government,
   76  or another country to manufacture, blend, or rectify distilled
   77  spirits for beverage purposes.
   78         (d) A craft distillery may not have its ownership
   79  affiliated with another distillery unless such distillery
   80  produces 75,000 gallons or fewer of distilled spirits on its
   81  premises per calendar year.
   82         (e) A craft distillery must report to the division within 5
   83  days after it reaches the production limitations provided in
   84  paragraph (1)(a). Any sale to a consumer at the craft
   85  distillery’s licensed premises is prohibited beginning on the
   86  day after the craft distillery reaches the production limitation
   87  for the year. A craft distillery that sells spirits under this
   88  subsection shall submit any beverages excise taxes under the
   89  Beverage Law in its monthly report to the division with any tax
   90  payments due to the state.
   91         (4)(2) Distributors authorized to do business under the
   92  Beverage Law, unless otherwise provided, shall pay a state
   93  license tax of $4,000 for each and every establishment or branch
   94  they may operate or conduct in the state. However, in counties
   95  having a population of 15,000 or less according to the latest
   96  state or federal census, the state license tax for a restricted
   97  license shall be $1,000, but the holder of such a license shall
   98  be permitted to sell only to vendors and distributors licensed
   99  in the same county, and such license shall contain such
  100  restrictions. In such counties, licenses without such
  101  restrictions may be obtained as in other counties, but the tax
  102  for a license without such restrictions shall be the same as in
  103  other counties. Warehouses of a licensed distributor used solely
  104  for storage and located in the county in which the license is
  105  issued to such distributor shall not be construed to be separate
  106  establishments or branches.
  107         (5)(3) Each broker or sales agent and each importer of
  108  alcoholic beverages, as defined in s. 561.14(4) and (5),
  109  respectively, shall pay an annual state license tax of $500.
  110         (6) The division may adopt rules to administer this
  111  section.
  112         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 561.14, Florida
  113  Statutes, is amended to read:
  114         561.14 License and registration classification.—Licenses
  115  and registrations referred to in the Beverage Law shall be
  116  classified as follows:
  117         (1) Manufacturers licensed to manufacture alcoholic
  118  beverages and distribute the same at wholesale to licensed
  119  distributors and to no one else within the state, unless
  120  authorized by statute. Persons engaged in the business of
  121  distilling, rectifying, or blending spirituous liquors licensed
  122  under s. 565.03(2) 565.03(1)(a)1. and (b) shall sell and
  123  distribute such beverages at wholesale only to other
  124  manufacturers and to licensed distributors and to no one else
  125  within this state.
  126         Section 3. The Legislature declares that it would not have
  127  individually enacted any of the provisions of this act and
  128  expressly finds the provisions not to be severable. If a court
  129  of competent jurisdiction determines any provision of this act
  130  to be in conflict with any law of this state, a federal law or
  131  regulation, the State Constitution, or the United States
  132  Constitution, or to be otherwise invalid for any reason, it is
  133  the intent of the Legislature that all of the provisions of this
  134  act be void, that such invalidity void only the changes made by
  135  this act, and that no other law be affected.
  136         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.